Cuomo Launches Probe of Utilities

Governor Cuomo says he hopes a Moreland Act investigation into the state’s utilities will result in a complete overhaul of New York’s power distribution system.

Cuomo says he launched the Moreland Act probe, which has the power to subpoena witnesses and compel them to testify under oath, because the current power distribution system is broken. And the governor says it needs to be fixed now, before another devastating storm hits.

“I don’t want to lose the moment,” Cuomo said.

The governor says if there’s a silver lining from Superstorm Sandy, it may be that there’s now the political will in the legislature to take up what Cuomo says will be a “massive enterprise” that he admits will be “disruptive”.

The governor has been particularly critical of the Long Island Power Authority, an entity that his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo, created more than 20 years ago. He says LIPA is “fatally flawed”, and has been “beyond repair for a long, long time”.

The Moreland Act Commission will be co-chaired by former State Attorney General Robert Abrams, and the state’s Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky.